Raven-Symoné Reveals How Childhood Body-Shaming Led to "So Many Mental Issues"

In a recent interview with People Now, actress and former child star Raven-Symoné opened up about what it was like to grow up before the [body positivity movement]((https://www.allure.com/topic/body-positivity) gained the traction it has today. "I wish I was living now as a younger person," she said. "I probably wouldn't have so many mental issues." She continued, "I love embracing your body. In this day and age you have all kinds [of bodies represented]... And there's androgyny and there's LGBT coming in, and it feels good. We didn't have it enough last time and I guess that's what the past is for — to make sure the present is what it needs to be."

The 31-year-old also remembered how some people body-shamed her when she was on tour when she was younger. "[They said] I was too big to be doing an hour and a half concert. 'I don't know how she can dance being that big,'" she recalled the haters saying. "And I was like, 'I still did it!' I was on tour forever, because it's not about your size, it's about what you have to say, if you can sing or dance, and performing. It's not about your size." In 2015, Raven-Symoné said on The View that her experiences with body-shaming started as early as when she was seven years old and acting on The Cosby Show. "I remember not being able to have the bagel or anything at — we would call it crafty, where it’s just a table of food, ready for you to eat whatever you want," she recounted. "And I remember people would be like, ‘You can’t eat that. You’re getting fat!’ I’m like, ‘I’m seven! I’m hungry!’"

In Raven-Symoné's eyes, sizeism is thankfully starting to lessen. "I love what's happening in the music industry, I love what's happening in television, and we just have to stop pretending that this little plastic box is the end-all be-all," she said. "The world is too big to have one sort of view to show beauty... So why not break the mold?"

Raven-Symoné, who is currently starring in Raven's Home, a spinoff of her early-2000s Disney Channel show That's So Raven, has previously spoken out about learning to reveal her true self. "I never thought I would come out because my personal life didn't matter," she said in a video for the "It Gets Better" campaign, in which she explained why it took her several years to publicly come out. "I knew I couldn't say it out loud because, 'Oh my god, little Olivia is gay, this is crazy,'" she said, noting that it seemed like every time a celebrity came out as gay, "It was always negative." She added, "So, if you don’t see other people going through it in a positive way, why would you say anything? There was nothing that would have made me want to deal with my own issue at that time."